Roach
by Azebithou
Summary: Renamed! Danny receives a phone call. Things go downhill quickly from there. AU Alt!Power
1. Prologue

Danny Hebert was not a happy man.

He had been once. Those closest to him would have described him as driven and intense, but happy. But Danny hadn't been happy in the last five years, ever since his wife, Annette, had died. He was left a broken shell of a man. The premature balding and graying of what little hair he had left made him look closer to his mid-fifties rather than just over forty. His oversized glasses made his eyes look large and protruding. His tall, skinny frame, once corded with wiry muscle was flabby and out of shape. A slight paunch spoke of too much beer and too little exercise in the past few years, Annie would never have stood for it. But Annie was gone.

As spokesman for the Dockworker's Association in Brockton Bay Danny did the best he could to keep them afloat, despite the Boat Graveyard miring what little work there was in the Docks, but he no longer had the fire and passion he was once famous for; back when he was whole. He was resigned to the constant excuses from the Mayor and the dismantling of his carefully laid plans that could bring life and vibrancy back to the whole of Brockton Bay, despite the heavy gang presence in most of the city.

The only thing he had left in life was his daughter, Taylor, and even she seemed to be drifting away from him. He looked over at the picture on his desk, a wide smile on 12-year-old Taylor's face, and mirrored on Annie's. Taylor had inherited his bad eyesight, height, and temper but everything else was pure Annie. The same easy smile and endless optimism (more of a curse than a blessing in his opinion); the same love of books and old cheesy movies. Taylor had always been closer to Annie, but lately it seemed that with every passing day she was more reticent and less willing to talk to him. He had seen similar things happen with increasing frequency among the Dockworkers when they thought that he wasn't doing enough to get them work. Right before they gave up on him and quit to join one of the gangs. He hoped it was just teenage rebellion and disillusionment that all kids her age faced, but he couldn't help feeling like there was more to it. The ringing of Danny's office phone disturbed his musing. With a sigh, he picked up the phone.

"Danny Hebert, Dockworker's Association." He said, resigned to another report of gang activity disrupting work.

"Mr. Hebert, this is Dr. Braylon at Brockton Bay General Hospital, your daughter, Taylor, was just admitted and is in the ICU…" the voice went on, but Danny couldn't hear anything over the sound of blood rushing in his ears.… Not Taylor. Anything but that.

"Mr. Hebert? Are you still there?" The voice sounded hesitant, worried. Danny could barely hear them over the thundering of his heart.

"Yes, I'll be there shortly. Thank you." He replied numbly and hung up the phone. His hands and legs shook as he recalled the last time he had received that phone call. Three years ago. He grabbed his jacket and stumbled out the door. His boss, Norman Bernard, caught sight of him and grew worried.

"Danny? Everything alright?" He asked, while stepping closer to steady the man.

"No... Taylor… Hospital…" Danny gasped unevenly.

Norman paled. He had been there when Annie died, and Danny still hadn't recovered from that. If something happened to Taylor as well… Danny wouldn't survive it.

"Lacey! Lacey!" He called back while keeping a hand on Danny's elbow.

"Yeah Mr. Bernard?" A voice called as a tall, muscled woman with an easy smile rounded the corner. She and her husband, Kurt, were longtime friends of Danny and his family.

"Take Danny to the hospital please, something happened to Taylor." He turned back to Danny "Take as much time as you need Danny, keep us updated." He said seriously. Lacey expression grew somber and she nodded briskly as she went to retrieve her coat. They were outside and into Lacey's old, rusted truck within a minute, not that Danny could remember moving.

"Danny, which hospital are we going to?" She asked gently as she cranked the ignition on the truck.

"Brockton General." He breathed. "ICU."

Danny and Lacey drove in silence, it was the middle of the day, so the traffic was light and they made good time. The walk into the hospital hardly registered with Danny as Lacey steered him toward the reception desk.

Lacey glanced at Danny nervously as she asked the receptionist for directions, he seemed more lucid than he was a few minutes ago, it looked like it was finally sinking in. The tired and harried nurse eyed them sympathetically. "Go down that hall, take a left and you'll see the doors to the ICU, you can sign in there." She said, pointing down the hallway to her right.

As Danny walked down the hauntingly familiar hallway he couldn't help but remember the last time he was here, it still felt like yesterday. And Annie hadn't made it out. He would never forgive himself if Taylor didn't make it out either. In no time, he was facing the door to her room, hand on the doorknob. He took a shaky breath and turned the handle. He stepped into the room and the first thing he saw was the tubes, wires, and beeping, whirring machines. In the middle of all of it, looking so small and pale, was his daughter. She looked just like his wife did; on her deathbed.

Danny's heart thundered in his ears, his knees gave out, distantly he could hear voices, feel a firm grip on his arm. Everything went black.


	2. Incubation 1-1

3 Months Later

Taylor woke to a familiar sensation as the lights of her cell flickered to life, that faint tingling on the edge of her senses and a pressure at the back of her head. She pulled her pillow over her head in a vain attempt to block them out. She concentrated on her breathing, in and out… in and out. What the hell was taking them so long today? A minute later an electronic buzz sounded from the door followed by a hiss as the airlock unsealed. Taylor fought against her instinct to rush for the door as it opened. Instead she sat up on the bed as the door swung open to reveal the back of a man with shaggy blond hair. Taylor groaned internally. Looks like Kris was back on duty today. Not that there was anything wrong with him, he was just… happy. All the time. And not in the obviously fake way that is vaguely condescending, he was just genuinely happy and nice. All. The. Time. It was exhausting to deal with sometimes, and especially in the morning.

"Morning Taylor! Rise and shine!" He said as he turned around, a bright smile on his face. It disappeared momentarily as he spotted her already sitting up on her bed. "Oh, tough morning? Here you go hon." He said as he walked over and held out a small plastic cup of pills and another of water. Taylor willed her hands not to shake as she took them. She glanced down into the cup of pills as she threw them all into her mouth. At least it wasn't nearly as many as they gave her when she first arrived nearly three months ago. She followed the pills with the water and handed the cups back to Kris. She immediately laid back down and pulled her pillow back over her head. She knew the drugs would take a couple minutes to get be effective.

She heard Kris say something followed by the hiss of the door as the airlock reengaged. He would be back in a few minutes to let her out after they finished delivering meds to the rest of the wing. For now, Taylor would just lay here and concentrate on her breathing, the way Dr. Kearney taught her. A few minutes later she felt calm and pulled the pillow off her head. They were still there, she knew they were, but they didn't bother her so much anymore. The buzzer and hiss of air sounded, and the door swung open to reveal Kris once again.

"Feeling better Taylor?" He said as he eyed her sympathetically. At her weak nod he said, "Don't forget, you have a session with Dr. Kearney before group today." She nodded and smiled weakly at him as she got up and followed him out of the room to join the small, motley group of about people walking down the hall. Marissa, a small, mousey girl with limp brown hair and sad eyes gave a small wave as Taylor entered the hallway. Taylor gave her a tired smile and followed the group as they shuffled their way to the locker room for a shower and change of clothes. Well, not a change so much as exchanging them for a clean set, as they looked the same as every other day; a pale blue shirt and white pajama pants. She washed quickly, not willing to dwell on the fact that her hair was still only just above shoulder length after they had cut it all off at the hospital.

After her shower, and feeling refreshed, Taylor made her way to the cafeteria for breakfast. The room was almost full when she got there, between 25 and 30 people in total. Most wearing the same pale blue she had on with some yellows scattered about. A few eyed her warily as she went to get in line, huddling over their food protectively as if she would steal it from them. She didn't usually get much say in what she got to eat here; Dr. Kearney put her on a special diet on the advice of Panacea, the world's premier parahuman healer, in an effort to make her gain weight. Panacea may be a miracle worker but even she couldn't create body mass to work with out of nothing. Panacea had had to cannibalize much of her, admittedly meagre, muscle mass in addition to what little fat stores she had in order to save her life and replace missing flesh that may never have healed properly on its own.

Taylor sat down at an empty table with a plate laden with breakfast foods. Three pancakes with syrup, a healthy portion of hash browns, scrambled eggs, a couple sausage links, and some toast. It was more than she used to eat in an entire day back home, but here she was on an appetite stimulant to help her eat. Even after the last three months she was still nearly stick thin, just barely into a healthy weight for her age and height. But it was a vast improvement over when she was brought here.

A few minutes later Marissa sat down across from her. "Hey Taylor." She whispered, looking down at her tray.

"Hi Marissa." Taylor replied. They lapsed into silence as they ate, as usual. Taylor didn't know much about Marissa other than the fact that she arrived here shortly after herself and they were around the same age. She suspected that the girl didn't have the best home life before coming here because she never had a visitor or phone call as far as Taylor knew. Regardless, the girl seemed to latch onto Taylor the moment she got here. Taylor was a little leery of her at first, mostly due to her history with other girls her age that she refused to think about more than she had to. Besides, Dr. Kearney thought it would be good for them both to have a friend while they were here. Marissa didn't talk much and was generally unobtrusive, so Taylor had nothing to complain about anyways. Taylor broke out of her musing and glanced at the clock, it was nearly nine now, she would have to hurry if she wanted to get to the gym today. Taylor turned back to her food, knowing that Dr. Kearney would hear if she didn't finish it all and give her one of her patented 'sympathetic but disappointed' looks that made Taylor want to cry.

"I'll see you later, before group. I'm going to go to the gym for a little while." Taylor said to Marissa as she got up to throw away her trash and return her tray. Marissa nodded and hummed.

Taylor quickly made her way to the small gym in this wing. Not very many people had permission use it here, so it was generally pretty empty. Dr. Kearney had given Taylor permission a couple weeks ago as long as she promised not to overexert herself and set her healing back. Taylor knocked on the door to the gym when she arrived and waited for someone to open the door. A few seconds later she spied Eduardo through the glass, giving him a smile and wave. Eddie was a large Hispanic man who would have been intimidating if she didn't know he was secretly a giant pushover. After watching her struggle with the treadmill for a few minutes her first time in the gym he had taken her under his wing and showed her how to use all the machines as well as a proper workout regimen.

"Hey Lil' T, here for your workout?" He flexed and patted his bicep. Taylor rolled her eyes but nodded. Being called Lil' T made her simultaneously embarrassed and happy. It reminded her of the times she would visit her dad at work when she was little.

"I think I'm just gonna use the treadmill a little today Eddie, I have a session with Dr. Kearney later." Taylor said as she followed him back into the room.

"Alright, shout if you need me." He nodded and smiled at her before moving off to check on the couple others that were here. As she turned toward the short line of treadmills she froze.

She could feel it. It was in here, it was so close. It wanted to eat her. It would slowly burrow into her flesh and lay its eggs and then they would hatch and eat her too. There would be nothing left, nobody would find her bones because they would eat every-

No. Stop.

Taylor screwed her eyes shut and took deep breaths as she slowly turned around. She opened her eyes to look for Eddie. She spied him talking to one of the other orderlies. She slowly made her way over, walking woodenly toward Eddie as she took deep breaths. The other orderly spied her first and gestured toward while saying something. Eddie looked over his shoulder, a confused expression on his face. He turned and met her a few feet away.

"Taylor, you alright?" He asked. His eyes darting around the room as he looked for her source of distress.

Taylor took another deep breath, her eyes fixed firmly over his shoulder. "There's a spider over by the treadmills. Could you get rid of it please? I'm going to go to the library now." She said. She turned toward the door and slowly exited the room without looking anywhere else. As soon as she was safely away from the gym she stumbled over to a wall and slowly slid down with her back to it. She buried her head in her knees and gasped for air while holding her shaking hands together tightly. Taylor had no idea how long she was there, huddled up against that wall but what felt like a couple minutes later she heard someone sit down next to her.

"Hey Taylor, I heard what happened. Want to talk about it?" Dr. Kearney, of course. Just hearing her voice helped Taylor calm down a little. She shook her head. "Well I think you handled it wonderfully. You were able to keep calm and tell someone before safely removing yourself from the situation." Taylor could hear the smile and pride in Dr. Kearney's voice. "How about we move this to my office? You might be able to sit here for hours, but I'm old and if I stay here much longer I won't be able to get up." Taylor snorted, Dr. Kearney was only in her mid-thirties at worst. Dr. Kearney got up and grabbed Taylor's hands. Reluctantly she let herself be pulled up onto her feet.

She slowly shuffled behind Dr. Kearney as they made their way to her office. They went inside and got settled quickly. Taylor opting for her usual big, comfy recliner that reminded her of her dad, while Dr. Kearney sat across from her on a remarkably uncomfortable looking chair that she insisted was good for her back whenever Taylor brought it up.

"Feeling better Taylor?" Dr. Kearney asked.

Taylor nodded, "There was a spider in the gym. I felt it there even though I took my pills this morning."

"Well we always knew that the medicine would only work for so long before your power found a way to work through it. I had expected it to last a little longer based on previous clients, but everyone is different, especially when it comes to powers. This leads into some good news and bad news." Dr. Kearney said. Taylor eyed her worriedly. "The good news is that this is definitive proof you're getting better, and I feel you'll be ready to go home fairly soon."

"How soon do you think? A month?" Taylor grinned, video calls with her dad were getting old and there was so much she had to tell him in person.

"Well that would depend entirely on you, I know you're eager to go home and get some normalcy back into your life but it's important that we don't rush things because there is a real risk of regression here." Dr. Kearney said in that same calm voice.

"Regression? But I thought I was getting better? As long as I avoid the bugs then I'll be okay." Taylor said nervously.

"That has to do with the bad news; I think you are ready for the next step. But you are not going to like it. The fact of the matter is: it is simply not feasible for you to avoid insects for the rest of your life, especially with your power. We're going to have to start getting a handle on both your fear and your power, and I feel we can effectively do both at the same time. I would like to make these sessions every day for an hour. To start with, they'll be like normal. The only difference is that there will be a bug, securely contained, in the room with us." Dr. Kearney said, looking at Taylor for some sort of response.

Taylor felt a shiver go down her spine. Being in the same room as a bug every day for an hour? She swallowed nervously. "C-can I think about it?" She stuttered.

"Of course. Just keep in mind that the drugs will stop working sooner rather than later. This isn't something I can simply increase the dose on without seriously risking your health." Dr. Kearney said.

"I understand. I just want to talk to my Dad first." Taylor took a deep breath. "W-we can start the day after tomorrow if that's okay with you." She tried and failed to keep her voice from shaking.

The rest of the session went smoothly, even if Taylor was a little distracted. After the session Taylor went to the library and found Marissa in the usual spot. She didn't say anything, she simply grabbed _Paradise Lost_ , her mother's favorite book, from the shelves and sat down to read and process. It wasn't as good as having her mother's copy with all the little notes in the margins, but it would do for now. A short while later Marissa was calling her name.

"Taylor? Taylor, it's time for group. Are you coming?" Marissa asked.

"Hm, what? Oh yeah, thanks Marissa." Taylor said as she snapped back to reality.

Group therapy was the same as usual, people venting, or asking for advice from other people in the same situation. Taylor usually tried to be a little more involved, but she wasn't really in the mood to talk much today. Thankfully, the rest of the group seemed to pick up on that and left her alone for the most part. Her musing was only interrupted once when the girl with detachable body parts threw her hands into the air a little too vehemently and well… threw her hands into the air, one of them managing to smack Taylor in the shoulder on the way down.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur but went smoothly enough. She and Marissa spent most of the day in the library except for a couple hours after dinner when they watched one of the new movies imported from Earth Aleph. Before she knew it, the day was over and it was time for bed again. She went to bed mentally exhausted but excited about seeing her dad tomorrow, even if it was just a video call.


End file.
